1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cartridge that houses clip members such as clip plates and clip needles which clip the end portion of a sheet bundle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electric staplers are known as a device for stapling the end portion of a sheet bundle. Instead of the electric staplers there has been proposed a clipping unit which folds a flat clip plate to clip the end portion of a sheet bundle.
Such a clipping unit is equipped with a unit main body having clamp means for folding a flat clip plate, a cartridge detachably attached to the unit main body, and a slider for feeding the flat clip plate housed in the cartridge to the clamp means.
Each time the slider reciprocates, the clip plate is sent out of the cartridge, and it is fed to the clamp means by the slider. The clip plate fed by the slider is folded by the clamp means and clips the end portion of a sheet bundle.
To house a great number of clip plates into the cartridge, they are interconnected in ribbon form by tape and are formed into a connected clip body wound in roll form. When the connected clip body is housed into the cartridge, there is the fear that the housing of the connected clip body or the handling of the leading clip plate of the connected clip body will require time and labor.